West Texas Adventure

Part 4: The Colima Death March

Was up and going in plenty of time, and the big treat was added while putting my
lunch together at the car:a
calling Elf Owl!(Unfortunately he
didn’t keep calling for the recorder…)It was just barely light when I started out, and I was really leery of
the fact that the trail was going
down
to begin with (because that meant I’d be coming back
up
in the heat of the day), but it shortly started climbing, and starting early was
really a great idea:the weather
was lovely, nice and cool, and going slow, it was no problem tackling the trail;
in fact, all things considered, it was a pretty easy trail overall!I stopped every 20 minutes and rested for five, adding the usual Basin
stuff for the day.As I got into
oak woodland and some conifers (in fact, I swear some of the trees looked like
Ash Junipers), I picked up Hutton’s Vireo for the trip, as well as tons of
Spotted Towhees.I was surprised to
kick up a Roadrunner this high up, but at one rest stop a couple of Band-tailed
Pigeons flew over, so I was glad to get them!White-throated Swifts chattered overhead at one point, and on one of the
switchback rests I pished afterwards, getting quite a bit of action, but I
couldn’t believe my eyes:
way
lower than they were supposed to be was my life Colima Warbler!!I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a dispersing juvenile (the photos even
showed a malar stripe), but I was shocked!

Leps showing up in the wee hours before dawn included a shy Crambid
Moth (left) and a Dainty Sulphur (right)!

Fungus on a tree (left) and scenes along the Laguna Meadows Trail
(once the sun came out)

Leps on the way up...

Golden banded Skippers (hard as I tried, couldn't turn any
into the Chisos Banded...)

Juvenal's Duskywing (worn left, fresh right)

Life Colima Warbler, well below where they’re supposed to be (probably a
dispersing juvenile)

!

I still wanted to check out Laguna Meadow, since I was so close (a couple of
guys passed me who had started at eight, and it was already 9:30, I think!), so
I kept plodding along until I reached the top of the world, and what a view!A Broad-tailed Hummer perched on a dead limb, and during the course of
the hike I kept hearing something that sure sounded like Blue-throated, but I’ve
been fooled by ground squirrels before…Continuing on ahead I had a marvelous vista of the chaparral-covered
hillsides (plenty of Black-chinned Sparrows to go along with it), and then came
upon a little pine woodland.As I
approached, this time I couldn’t believe my ears: another Colima was
singing!
I pulled out the recorder and was able to get a knockout recording (and looks on
top of that)!And I wasn’t even
near Laguna Meadow!A hiker came
bouncing down the stairs at that point and asked if I had seen anything good,
and I pointed out the singing Colima to him; he wasn’t a birder, so I had to
point out the significance that this is the only place in the US you can see
this bird, and you
have
to make the climb!He was duly
impressed and tried to call it in by calling “Pretty Bird!”Unfortunately I had to burst his bubble that it really wasn’t all that
pretty, but the rufous cap and yellow butt sure added color!

Scenes from the top

Some of the secretive bush birds include Black-chinned Sparrow ,
Spotted Towhee ,
and Canyon Towhee

Dragging myself up the “stairs”, I came to another woodland and saw a little
building through the trees, which had to be the composting toilet, which meant I
was actually
in
Laguna Meadow!It’s funny how
nothing really turns out how you visualize it:I had pictured this broad expanse of real meadow (kind of like Yosemite),
but it wasn’t a meadow at all:just
an area that leveled out and had a lot of grassy undergrowth, but you were still
deep in the forest!I made it as
far as the first little primitive campground, where another hiker plodded by
(this was her first time as well, and she was gonna attempt the whole loop) and
then a couple who had spent several days camping and backpacking up in the
mountains.As I left to head back I
scared a White-tailed Deer in their direction, but thankfully ran into no
predators during the course of the hike (actually, apparently someone had a
Mountain Lion right outside their room)!

Laguna Meadow, which is actually just an area of grassy undergrowth in the
forest!

Left: Young Mexican Jay
Right:

Moth (possibly
Mericisea gracea)
hiding under a piece of bark

The hike down was a piece of cake for the most part, and the Colima was still
singing away and gave great photo ops this time!Since the sun was coming up the butters were becoming more active, and
once I looked at the pictures and referenced the book, I was pleased to discover
I had added several life butters, including the mega-endemic Chisos Skipperling!Tons of Red Satyrs bounced along, but along with them were the very
similar Meade’s Woodnymphs, also a life bug!Desert Cloudywing also turned out to be a life bug (at least that’s what
I’m calling it until told otherwise), and I carefully checked out each and every
Golden Banded Skipper I ran across to make sure it wasn’t a Chisos, and none
were…
L
A tiny little guy who bounced by and landed turned out to be a Scudder’s
Duskywing (again, until told otherwise), but he was pretty beat up.Also ran into these outlandish blue-winged grasshoppers, and one
Reakirt’s Blue had every color in the rainbow in his wings!Nothing common about
that
guy!

The Colima Warbler preens and sings after a bath!

Painted Lady

Meade’s Woodnymph (left and center) compared to the similar and more common Red
Satyr (right)

I'm guessing on these guys, but the best matches seem to be Cockerell's
Blue-winged Grasshopper (left) and Ebony Grasshopper (right)

Orange Skipperling

The dorsal side of this Reakirt’s Blue is showing every color of the rainbow!

I was right to be leery of that last stretch, because by now the sun was hot and
you had to climb those stairs; I thought I was gonna die or throw up, one of the
two!But once I collapsed over
Bippy I dumped everything and poured water all over me, then turned on the AC
with a Coke, then decided to unload everything and crash until dinner (and I
figured today’s hike deserved splurging at the restaurant)!Had a wonderful meal at said restaurant, then wheeled down to the store
for ice and water, and took one last swing around the Window View Trail in hopes
of a Lucifer Hummer at one of the few agaves still in bloom.Nothing except the young Scott’s Oriole that always seemed to be there,
but did have another cool striped grasshopper!On the way out two Mockingbirds were facing off in the parking lot (wish
I had a video of the thing, because it almost looked like a dance, the way
they’d “sashay” back and forth), but the interesting thing was that they were
both young birds (or looked like it, anyway—they both had a gray wash on the
breast).A tourist interrupted
their confrontation, and the one closest to me almost flew in the car!

Crawling up that last stretch towards the cottages

Another romp around the Window View Trail

Striped Grasshopper

A White-winged Dove prances past...

A couple of Mockingbirds sashay back and forth in a standoff (you needed a video
to appreciate it…)

The guy on the right nearly flew into the car when a tourist showed up!

Since that decided the next day’s plan (if you haven’t seen the Lucifer yet, you
need to hike the
real
Window Trail, the book said), we drove down to the campground to find the
trailhead, and thankfully they have trailhead parking (or at least it appears
that way).On the way back to the
lodge, I couldn’t believe it:a
Gray Vireo was singing right next to the road!And my recorder was back in the room!!
L

Input all the data and crashed for the evening.

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